Recordings Cover Key Period Between February 1971 and July 1973

A new batch of secret tapes recorded by President Richard Nixon, made public on Wednesday, captures a faltering president in the heat of the Watergate crisis at a time when he was attempting to remake U.S. relations with China and the Soviet Union.

The historic recordings, conducted without the knowledge even of his top aides, led to Mr. Nixon's unraveling by exposing his role in covering up a 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex. Their release in installments...